Great white shark jumps onto boat

Researchers observing shark behaviour near Mossel Bay, South Africa got a little closer to their object of study then they’d anticipated when a three-meter great white shark leapt from the ocean and onto their vessel.

Great white sharks are known for breaching the ocean’s surface to jump out of the water to catch their prey. The research team, Oceans Research, based in Mossel Bay, was observing four sharks in the area when a great white — weighing approximately 500 kilograms — landed and remained on board for about an hour.

Team leader Dorien Schröder told the Guardian that: “Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from [the] side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crew member who was chumming [throwing food bait] on the port side.”

Schröder pulled the crew member from under the shark and moved towards the bow of the boat. The shark became wedged between the stern and the containers after thrashing around and cutting off fuel lines and damaging some equipment.

Another boat was called and Schröder poured water over the shark’s gills to keep it alive. The team attached a rope to the shark’s tail and efforts were made to pull him back into the ocean. After several attempts, the vessel carrying the shark was towed to the port and the shark was lifted with a crane back into the water.

The disoriented shark swam into the harbour and beached. A final and successful effort was made using ropes and a boat to pull the shark into the ocean.

Oceans Research’s co-director, Enrico Gennari, says that the shark landing on the boat was probably an accident. He said, “It’s all speculation but sometimes a shark breaches the surface when it feels another shark underneath it. They [move] like a flying fish and end up several metres away.”